Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

March 1, 2021 | Barb Carr

The Benefit of Task Analysis During an Investigation

Task analysis is observing a worker perform a task to understand, in greater detail, how they do it.

Task analysis is an important tool for evaluating the human factors engineering implications of the task being performed. The benefit of task analysis during an investigation is that it is an effective tool for evidence collection.

Incident investigators will find task analysis useful for insight into where a mistake or error occurred in the performance of the task. Task analysis is for those days when you are staring at your SnapCharT® trying to figure out where in the sequence of events something went wrong. If you’ve been struggling to learn more from an incident, task analysis may provide you with better evidence. It can also be used proactively to identify the potential for human error during the task.

One common task analysis technique is a walk-through of the task. An experienced worker demonstrates each step of the task to the investigator no matter how small (pressing a button may be one step). The demonstration may include:

  • locating and putting on PPE
  • retrieving materials needed to perform the task
  • communicating with other workers
  • collecting information from computers or displays
  • making decisions based on information collected

The investigator writes down each step of the task. This helps the investigation team understand which steps are safety-critical, and highlight any factors that might affect the worker’s performance in carrying them out. This information may be used to compare to how the task that led to an incident was performed to identify mistakes and errors.

Learn more about how to conduct a task analysis in the 5-Day TapRooT® Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader Training.

In this course, you will learn how to conduct a Change Analysis as well as how to complete a Critical Human Action Profile, two different task analysis methods. You will also have the opportunity to work on some examples during the course. Add this skill to your evidence collection toolbox.

5-Day TapRooT® Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader Training

Learn more about other human factors engineering topics:

How does TapRooT® solve human factors problems? View>

Visual displays and auditory messages View>

Categories
Human Performance, Interviewing & Evidence Collection, Safety
-->
Show Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *